Tag Archives: distraction

Jim Schutze at The Dallas Observer has a good piece up today about politicians using issues like immigration, abortion and gay rights to distract voters from real problems, such as Texas’ current budget shortfall and — more generally — how badly rich people in the U.S. are screwing everyone else over. Here’s an excerpt:

So it’s like this: We ask, “Mr. Governor, what are you going to about the huge deficit that’s going to screw up our kids’ schools and toss our grandparents out in the street and mess up the whole state?”

And he says, “LOOK OVER THERE! A MEXICAN!”

It’s not just Perry. It’s all of the Republicans now. Ask state Sen. Florence Shapiro what she’s going to do to protect colleges and universities from the shortfall. She’ll start talking about how we need “voter ID”

“LOOK! LOOK! A MEXICAN TRYING TO VOTE!”

And if that doesn’t work, the Republicans will point toward San Francisco and say, “LOOK! LOOK! TWO GUYS KISSING!”

Or, “LOOK! LOOK! A SLUT GETTING AN ABORTION.”

In reading Schutze’s piece, we couldn’t help being reminded of this George Carlin bit, so we figured we’d go ahead and share it too:

Naomi Judd turns 64 on Tuesday. The country singer has been on somewhat of a comeback lately. Reuniting with daughter Wynonna, The Judds hit the road for The Last Encore Tour. The two have also launched a reality show on the new Oprah Winfrey network OWN. But her inspiration for glitzy country drag and high-to-heaven hair has never gone away.

…………………………………

THIS WEEK

Mars is very happy in Capricorn where the planet of energy and action is focused productively. Aspecting Uranus and Jupiter in Pisces, and Neptune in Aquarius, he can lose focus, but if you can stay on track while examining your process you can find new purpose and methods to strengthen your efforts.

………………………………….

CAPRICORN Dec 21-Jan 19
Your sign improves with age, but exercising is important for staying sharp. Advice from friends should be heard, but not followed. It opens your mind to better possibilities.

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18
Self-criticism is helpful if you don’t take it to extremes. There’s room for improvement and an honest assessment of your virtues and flaws will make you clearer on what you have to offer.

PISCES Feb 19-Mar 19
You have to be very careful not to give too much of yourself. Have a long talk with a friend you can count on to be ruthlessly honest about your limits and how you should set them.

ARIES Mar 20-Apr 19
If you focus, you can achieve great things. Meditation helps tame that unruly, dreamy mind and draw inspiration. Friends who want your time are a distraction. Or enlist them to help.

TAURUS Apr 20-May 20
Ideas brewing in your head need a release. Getting yourself heard helps or hurts you. Discussing those notions with a friend will improve them and see best where and how to air them.

GEMINI May 21-Jun 20
Explore your fantasies and bring them into your real-life lovemaking. Some of those dreams may need safety checks and adaptations to be performed in the physical world.

CANCER Jun 21-Jul 22
Your fancy notions shock or titillate your partner. A discussion of limits is in order. Even out of the sack, your sweetheart can help with reality checks to help figure which dreams can come true.

LEO Jul 23-Aug 22
Every relationship takes work. Take up the tough issues now while it’s a little easier. You’ll be surprised at what problems can be resolved in the bedroom. It will at least help.

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22
Your intuition is clear now. With practice you learn to use it to better purpose in teamwork, practical or romantic. Trust those hunches in healing any kind of relationship — or finding one.

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22
As onerous as family or community duties may feel, you accomplish a lot and gain influence. You’re creative enough to find a positive approach. Once you start there will be no stopping you.

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21
What you have to say is too important to be wasted. Polish those gems and share them where they are appreciated. A little imaginative probing reveals secrets or scandals.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 20
Discuss your financial worries with a trusted person. You stumble on solutions or realize things aren’t as bad as you think. Clear your head of worry to think clearly about resources at hand.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 7, 2011.

Discussing “don’t ask don’t tell” on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch Weekly radio program on Friday, Congressman Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, offered his response to those who point out that the Bible — if you read it closely and all — doesn’t really appear to condemn homosexuality per se:

“Some people say, ‘Where is homosexuality in violation of the Ten Commandments?’ Well, it’s adultery. It’s sexual relations outside of marriage, a man and a woman. Of course there are other verses that reference these specific acts, men lusting after men, etc., but specifically for the military, when anyone, whether they’re homosexual or heterosexual, cannot control their hormones to the point that they are a distraction to the good order and discipline of the military, then they need to be removed from the military.”

Gohmert goes on to agree that if DADT is repealed, the military would have to change its policies to allow “heterosexual immorality.”

“Well of course it would,” he says. “Well, I say of course it would. You would think that. But of course we’ve already shown through Congress that homosexuality deserves a more precious and privileged position just by some of the laws that we’ve passed.”

Gohmert is likely referring to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, which he suggested last year could lead to the legalization of things like pedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker said she was delighted to be asked to come to Dallas to be Honorary Grand Marshal of the Pride parade. And she was a little surprised other cities hadn’t asked her.

“It’s a little hot outside,” she said soon after arriving in Dallas. “We do our parade at night for a reason.”

Parker said she forgot to bring a hat, but she never wears hats in Houston. Her reason sounded a bit like another Texas Democrat, Ann Richards.

“My hat covers the hair,” she said. “They have to see the hair.”

Unlike many gay or lesbian politicians, she didn’t come out after successfully launching her political career. She said she started as a lesbian activist on the front lines.

“I was debating the nutballs in public,” she said.

Parker came out in high school. In college she founded Rice University’s first LGBT group and began her political career as president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus.

During each campaign, the GLBT Political Caucus and her partner, Kathy Hubbard, have always been included in her literature.

“That way I owned it,” she said. “Kathy describes our relationship as not being out of the closet but being out on the front lawn,” she said.

The election received an overwhelming amount of media coverage.

“It’s unprecedented for an election for mayor of Houston to make the front cover of the Times of India,” she said. “It was difficult to slog through. It was a distraction at the beginning.”

Parker said she doesn’t think most of Texas was as surprised by her election as the rest of the country or the world. She mentioned a number of lesbian elected officials around the state including Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez.

She attributed her victory to a number of factors. Houston always elects moderate Democrats, she said.

Of the seven candidates running in the general election, she started with the highest name recognition. This was her eighth election and her opponent’s first.

“He made some rookie mistakes,” she said. “He got distracted. He got in bed with the right-wing hate-mongers.”

The week before coming to Dallas, Parker had been in New York and met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

She said he joked that he was partially responsible for her win. Had he stepped aside, Christine Quinn, the lesbian who heads New York’s city council, would have probably made a bid for office.

“All the gay money across the country would have flown to New York,” she said.

Actually, most of Parker’s donations were local, and while she didn’t have the most money for her campaign, she had a greater number of donations than her six opponents combined.

Parker seems to be settling into her new position.

She strengthened the city’s non-discrimination policies by executive order. Her revisions included gender identity and expression and extended protection to all city-run facilities.

Partner benefits for city employees can only be granted by popular vote in that city. She said she expects that the LGBT community will soon begin collecting signatures to bring that proposition to a vote and said she would like to be able to include Hubbard on her insurance.

Parker said that in effect she is making less than Bill White did as mayor because she has to pay for Hubbard’s health insurance.

With 2.2 million constituents, Parker said she couldn’t be just the gay mayor, but she would continue to use her position to advance LGBT rights when possible. She helps raise money and speaks for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund around the country and said their training was extremely helpful.

And Parker said Houston has benefited from being the largest city in the world with a lesbian mayor. Her recent trade mission to China is an example.

Earlier in the year, Parker was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful people in the world. She said she never would have made the list had she been “just another white guy.” One of China’s top trade officials was also on the list.

In August, Parker led a trade delegation to China. The Chinese trade official, she said, probably met with her because both were on the list and because of the curiosity factor. Men hold most government positions in China, she said, not out lesbians.

She said that while that was how her being a lesbian has benefited Houston, she can also use her position as a bully pulpit.

She may make a return trip to China where Houston and Moscow are competing to bring a convention to their cities. She said she hopes the mayor of Moscow is there and that Houston wins the convention over his city.

Parker said she plans on calling the Moscow mayor out on his terrible treatment of gays and lesbians. Among other things, he has canceled permits for Pride parades in the city and last weekend had his city’s best-known gay activist arrested.

With the November election approaching, Parker said she is remaining officially neutral in the state’s races.

“To represent my city I have to get along with everyone,” she said.

As mayor of the state’s largest city, Parker said she’s had more contact lately with Gov. Rick Perry than former Houston mayor Bill White.

“But I am absolutely livid that Rick Perry has an attack ad on Bill White that features me,” she said. “I don’t want to be used as a wedge in that campaign.”

Parker said that Perry used a quote of something she said while controller. She said it was not out of context and might have even been impolitic to say at the time. But she described her relationship with White as a good working relationship despite a disagreement on a particular issue at one time during their three terms in office together.

Parker maintains a high popularity rating in Houston and said she thinks her city is getting used to their new high-profile mayor. Among the reasons, she said, is that she is the only mayor of a major American city who hasn’t had to lay off any workers.

Parker did admit just one area where Dallas beats Houston — light rail. However, she said the two cities are working together to get a high-speed rail link built between them.

In January, Parker and Hubbard will celebrate their 20th anniversary.

Parker said one thing Hubbard did not share with her was the parenting gene. It took several years before she convinced Hubbard they should be parents.

They have raised three children together. Their foster son was an openly gay teen who they took in at age 16. Later, they adopted their two daughters at ages 12 and 7. Their younger daughter is 15 now and still at home. Her son, who is now 34, rode in the car in the parade with her.

Houston’s mayors serve two-year terms so Parker will be running for re-election next year.